When to Ignore

One of the wisdom questions we face is how to know what behaviors to ignore, or whether we should ignore anything at all. Sometimes the same behavior needs discipline in one situation, but ignoring in the other. How can we tell?

There’s knowledge to be found in the Bible that will help me make those decisions. Rather than looking first to see what the pastor thinks, or what the latest parenting book thinks, I want to look at the Bible. When I’ve exhausted my own resources, then I’ll go to someone who knows the Bible well.

Does the Bible have anything that will help me decide what to ignore with my children? (If you want to, before you look at my list, make your own. Don’t worry about references– just jot down a few words from any passage you think about.)

love covers…

Paul– should I come with a rod? or love and meekness?

warn the unruly/ comfort the feebleminded, etc.

love is patient– long suffering—

answer a fool– do not answer a fool

because justice is not meted out speedily

goodness of God leads us to repentance

he remembers we are dust, he does not deal with us after our sins

as a father has compassion (pity) on his children

No temptation is more than we can bear– developmental, too

How about people?

Gideon?

Elijah?

Zechariah/mary?

job?

john mark?

That’s what my brainstorming often looks like. I’ll add more, but the next step is to look up all the passages in biblegateway.com and do some more thinking. I’ll probably go through Proverbs and watch for verses that contrast dealing with a simple person and a fool and a wise person– the specific verses are eluding me, but I know that there are many.

What passages did you think of? Any that will help you in decision making this week?